Return to civility should be goal for all in 2013

If there is one resolution we should all be willing to give our best shot in 2013 it should be a conscious willingness to be civil to those around us and to those whom we come in contact with on a daily or occasional basis. We see poor examples of bad manners and uncivil behavior wherever we look today.

Topping the list would have to be some of our elected senators and representatives we have in Washington, D.C. There used to be an air of statesmanship surrounding parliamentary procedures when Congress is in session. We haven’t seen much of that lately. In fact, we haven’t seen much of anything positive coming out of those hallowed halls lately. The age of compromise seems to have passed.

Instead, what we have is one side blaming the other for all of our stalemates we seem to have over cutting or raising taxes and on whom, while merely going through the motions of trying to put in place any kind of realistic cuts in our burgeoning national debt.

Civil leadership is lacking in places like the U.S. Senate where Majority leader Harry Reid most recently accused his U.S. House counterpart Rep. John Boehner of running a “dictatorship,” whatever that means. Harsh words like that are hardly conducive to a spirit of good legislative cooperation. There are some things we can do. 

On the highway we could all improve our road manners by driving more defensively instead of aggressively. We are all familiar with “road rage” which seems to be more common in younger drivers who are impatient and think they own the road. You can make things a lot easier on yourself by allowing for enough travel time so you are not so rushed on the road.

An act of civility could be something as simple as opening a door for someone or offering a sincere greeting accompanied by a genuine smile. You could have a goal of giving at least one compliment a day to someone or saying something positive to them to help brighten their day.

We can’t help what happens to us sometimes, but we have the power to determine what our attitude will be to whatever occurs in our lives. In 2013 let’s vow to make the best of our personal situations and try to improve that of our friends and neighbors by being civil in our words and deeds.

Happy New Year in 2013!